Pressure drilling head



y 1941- A. PRANG ER EI'AL 2 5 PRESSURE DRILLING HEAD Filed Jan. 1a, 19382 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fly. 1

INVENTOR. ALBERTPRANGER BY JAMUEL ALLEN g4 4figRgoMlr ATTORNEY.

May 27, 1941. A. PRANGER ETAL PRESSURE DRILLING HEAD Filed Jan. 18, 19382 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENT OR.

R @Mmm NS 0 M m 1% 70W mm i Am L m M w Patented May 2?, 1941 OFlC- AAlbert hanger and Samuel Allen Guiberson, m,

Dallas, Tex assignors to The Gulberson Corpo-' ration, Dallas, Ten, acorporation of Delaware Application January 18, 1938, i

Claims.

This invention relates to an improved pressure drilling head.

In the oil well industry, many advantages result from drilling in underpressure, but many diiilcult ies and obstacles result from drilling inunder pressure. A square kelly is frequently employed, which is rotatedby the rotary table, while the drill pipe is round, and outside collarsare frequently employed. Under these conditions, it has proved to bevery difli-sult to drill.

without considerable loss of pressure. An important object of thisinvention is to cure these difficulties by providing a packer of uniqueconstruction which will accommodate a-kelly of any outsideconfiguration, and which will permit the passage of the outside collars,and will also automatically accommodate or conform to the shape of a.round drill pipe. By this arrangement, the pressure drilling headprovides a pressure seal, when a fiat-sided kelly or drill stem isemployed, so that there is very little loss of pressure, and as thecollars or round drill pipe is passed through the drilling head, thepacker will conform to the configuration ofthe same, so as to hold thepressure.

-We have shown a specific form of the invention by way of illustration,and not by way of limitation in the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a vertical view of the pressure drillin head, the squarekelly, the drill pipe, and one collar, certain of the parts being shownin cross section.

Fig. 2 is a plan view, partly in cross section, taken on the line 2-2 ofFig. 1, looking downwardly.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the Kelly clamp, which is shown in theupper part of Fig.' 1.

Fig. l is a cross sectional view on the line 4-6 of Fig. 1, showing asquare kelly, packed oil in the rubber sleeve or packing member.

with downwardly extending skirts I which have straight inner faces, asis shown in Fig. 3, which inner faces lie against the opposite sides ofthe square kelly I. It is, therefore, obvious that as the square kelly lis rotated, the Kelly clamp would be rotated with the same, but as thewell was drilled deeper, the kelly would pass longitudinally downwardlythrough the Kelly clamp, and if it were desired to pull the kelly,upwardly, the kelly would slide upwardly between the members of theKelly clamp.

Each section of the Kelly clamp is provided with an outstanding collar8, which normally rests against the upper surface of a gland 9, which iscircular (except for the vertical channels H) on its interior, as shownin Fig. 2, and which has an outstanding flange ID. The vertical channelsll receive the straight sides of the skirts I of the Kelly clamp, asshown in'Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but showing a round drill pipepacked off in the rubber sleeve or packing member, and, I

Fig. 6 is a view partly in cross section, taken on the line 55 of Fig.1, looking to the left.

The square kelly I is rotated bythe rotary table, as is well understoodin the industry. A Kelly clamp composed of two sections, 2 and 3, isplaced around the kelly Land has an inside dimension and shape toconform to the outside of the square kelly. Two halves of the Kellyclamp are bolted together by the bolts 4 which pass through apertures 5in ears 6, which form a part of each section of the Kelly clamp. Each ofthe sections of the Kelly clamp are provided The outer periphery of thegland 9, below the flange I0, is circular, as shown in Fig. 2, exceptfor diametrically opposite keyways H2. The rotary housing i3 is providedat its upper end with threads I4 on which is screweda ring l5, which isprovided with a keyway [6. The rotary housing i3 is provided with asimilar keyway in alignment with the keyway l6, and'a key I1 ispositioned in the said keyways, and, if desired,

it may be extended into the keyway I2, and is held I in position by abolt l8, which passes through the key I1 andthe ring l5. From the aboveconstruction, it is apparent that when the square kelly I is rotated bythe rotary table, not shown, the Kelly clamp is likewise rotated, whichin turn, rotates the gland 9, and through the keyway l2 and key l1, andby, means 01. the bolts is the ring l5 and the rotary housing I3 islikewise rotated. It will, of course, be understood that there arediametrically opposite keys H, as is shown in Fig. 2, but if desired, agreater number of keys may be employed.

It is, of course, obvious that the kelly would rotate the packing member4|, which is under compression, and this would rotate the rotary housingindependently of the Kelly clamp as well as independently of the keywayI2 or the key II or the ring l5. If the Kelly clamp is omitted entirely,the gland 9 would rotate with the rotary housing through the ring l5 andbolts l9 and this is especially true since there is nothing toretard-the rotation of the gland 8. It is also obvious that, regardlessof whether the clamps 2 and 3 are used or are not used, it is'notessential that the keys I'I, project into the keyways i2 for the gland 2is locked to the by means of the bolts I9.

The flange i is provided with apertures which ring ll receive bolts it,there being four, shown in Fig.

rotary housing l2 and the ring it cannot be moved upwardly, so that thenet result is that the member 9 is moved downwardly when the bolts iiiare screwed down or tightened, and as a result, compresses the packingmember which will "be hereinafter described.

The rotary housing i2 is provided with a shoulder 20 which receives,above the same, an inner race member 2|, thereby holding the said raceagainst downward movement. The member i2 is also provided with a lowershoulder 22, which receives a lower inner race member 22. The upper andlower race members are, of course, cincular on their outer faces and areprovided with circumferential grooves, as is well known in the art,which receiverollers 24 and 25 respectively, which contact slopingsurfaces 26 and 21 respectively of upper and lower outer race members 22and 22 respectively.

An outer housingv 22 is provided, which surrounds the rotary housing,except that it does not extend as far upwardly as the rotary nousmember4|, there is a flange 45 extending outwardly and in contact with thelower surface of the ring 42. Near the lower end of the packing member4| -is a flange 44, under which lies the shoulder 22. when the member 2and ring 42 move downwardly, as above described, so as to compress thepacking member, the ridges between the inner circumferential channels 42are moved into packing engagement with the-kelly, the drill pipe orthecollar and the ridges between the outer circumferential channels 42 aremoved into packing engagement with an inner rotary housing l2.

The packing member 4| is made of any resilient packing material, and theinner periphery is circular for both the round drill pipe, or the squarekelly. Preferably, it is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of theround drill pipe,

or the shortest distance between opposite sides of the square kelly. Ifa square kelly is to be inserted, in the packing member 4|, thecorrugated inner and outer surfaces thereof will permit a sumcientchange of configuration, so as to conform to the square kelly, or if adrill pipe is to be passed through the same, it will,'of course, conformto the contour of the outside of the drill pipe.

The usual collar 41 serves as a connecting means between "the kelly andthe drill pipe 42. The collar is larger than the drill pipe, provided anexternal collar is employed, and the lower ing, which outer housing isprovided with threaded bolt holes 2|, which receivebolts 22, which haveheads which overlie a cover plate 22. The cover plate is provided withan oil duct 24,

which is closed by a plug 25. Lubricating oil may be inserted throughthe said duct so as to oil the parts below the same, including therollers. The outer housing 22 is held stationary by being rigidlyattached to the casing of the well, not shown. v The cover plate 22 isprovided with a downwardly extending lug 24 which, when the bolts 22 aretightened, presses the outer race member 28 downwardly so as to contactthe upper rollers 24, which in turn tends to press the'inner race member2| downwardly, and as this member 2| overlies the shoulder 22, theentire rotary housing |2 would be moved downwardly so that the lowershoulder 22 would engage the lower inner race member 22, and press thelower rollers 22 skirt 29 with a reduced diameter, as shown in Fig. 1.Immediately below the lower end of the gland 9 is a ring 42, and belowthe ring 42 and above the shoulder 28 is a packing member 4|. Thecompression of the packing member 4| may be varied by tightening orloosening the bolts l9, thereby moving the gland 2 down or up, andcompressing or relieving the compression of the packing member 4|through the ring 42.

As shown in Fig. l, the packing member 4| is corrugated, by havinginternal circumferential channels 42 and external circumferential chan-'nels 42, with ridges 44 between the said channels orvalleys. At theupper end of the packing inner surface of the packing member 4| isprovided with a flange 42, which forms an outwardly extending surface sothat, as the collar 41 is raised, it will contact the beveled surface ofthe flange 49, so the packing member will not be distorted vertically toa material extent, as would be the case if the lower end of the pacmember formed a horizontal plane. a

The usual packing 52 is interposed between the lower portions of thestationary outer housing 22- and the rotatable inner housing l2, whichpacking prevents the oil that has been inserted through the oil duct 24from draining into the well casing. From the above description, it isapparent that when the kelly I2 is rotated, everything in the drawing islikewise rotated, except the outer housing l2 and the parts directlysecured thereto, including the outer race members 22 and 22, which partsare held stationary. It is also apparent, that owing to the uniqueconstruction of the packing member 4|, a pressure drilling head isprovided which will accommodate both a square and around kelly, as wellas a collar or drill pipe. It is further to be noted that, the pressureor packing engagement be In operation the rotary housing l2 simplyrotates and has no longitudinal movement relative to the'outer housingand the well casing. when -runninginthedrill-pipe,itisnotnto have thepacking or any of the members above the packing in place. However,before the kelly is attached to the drill pipe the packer 4| and.

the parts which press the packer downwardly are inserted and-the kellyis then attached'to the drill pipe. The kelly may then be lowered intothe housing into the position shown in Fig. 1, at which time the boltslkgould be tightened so as to compress the packer ownwardly on theshoulder 22 and so as to cause the corrugated aasaaso packer to pack ohthe space between the kelly and the housing It regardless of whether thekelly is round or square. In pressure drilling the normal pressure usedwould be employed and the pack on should be suiiiciently tight 'towithstand these normal pressures while the packer is resting on theshoulder 38. If new the operator drilled into a high pressure zone thehigh pressures would cause the packer to be pushed upwardly since thelower end thereof extends into the high pressuresand this would causethe seal to be tightened so as to resist these pressures and as a matterof fact, the'higher the packer is sufilciently resilient to take care ofthe passage of the collars so that after boring into the high pressurezone the entire drill pipe may be removed by simply pullingit upward. Ofcourse, you would not wish to entirely remove the drill pipe if the highpressures were being experienced, but the drill pipe can be pulled up toa point above any member which might seal the well, such as the usualgate valve. If a gate valve were employed, obviously, you would closethe gate valve after the bit had been raised above it and while thelower portion of the drill pipe was still within the packer, thereforepreventing a blow out. It is the usual custom in order to remove the bitto first remove the pressure head, and of course, after the gate valvewould close this could be done as is the accepted practice.

We realize that many changes may be made in the specific form of theinvention which is shown by way of illustration and not by way.

of limitation in the accompanying drawings,

and we therefore reserve the right to make all changes in the specificform thereof, except as we may limit ourselves in the appended claims.Having now described our invention, we claim: 1. In a drilling head foran oil well, a resilient packing member provided with circumferential rinner and outer valleys, with intervening ridges and adapted to receiveeither a square'member or a round member, and manually controlled meansto control the compression said packing means and a rotatable housingwhich said packing member is mounted.

2. In a drilling head for an oil well, a rotatable housing, a resilientpacking member corrugated in vertical cross section forming inner andouter valleys and ridges and having a bore extending therethrough,adapted to receive and pack ofi a fiat or round-faced drill member, andmanually controlled means to regulate the compression oi said packingmember, the lower end of said member being exposed to the gas pressuresin the well.

3.. In combination, a rotatable housing, aresiiient pacmng membercorrugated in vertical crom section forming inner and outer valleys andridgeg-- and having a bore extending therethrough adapted to receiveeither a fiat or round faced drill member, contacting shoulders on saidhousing and packing member tov hold the lower end of said packingmemberagainst downward movement, and means to press downwardly on the upperend of the said packing member to cause said packing member to make apressure seal between said rotatable housing and said drill member.

4. In combination, a rotatable housing, a resilient packing membercorrugated in vertical cross section forming inner and outer valleys andridges and having a bore extending therethrough adapted to receiveeither a iiat or round faced drill member, contacting shoulders on saidhousing and packing member to hold the lower end of said packing memberagainst downward movement, and means to regulate the pressure exerted bysaid packing member in sealing the space between the rotatable housingand the drill member.

5. A well drilling apparatusincluding a rotatable housingthrough. whicha iiat sided drill stem, a round drill pipe or an outside collar may bepassed, a packing within and rotatable with said housing, said packinghaving circumferential corrugations, and being sufliciently resilient topermit vertical passage of the fiat-sided drill stem, drill pipe orcollars, while rotating and adapted to hold the well pressure and agland to regulate the compression of said pack- 6. A well drillingapparatus including a rotatable housing through which a flat sided drillstem, 9. round drill pipe or outside collar may be passed, a packingwithin and rotatable with said housing, said packing havingcircumferential corrugations, and being sumciently resilient to permitvertical passage of the flat-sideddrill stem, drill pipe or collars,while rotating and adapted to hold thwell pressure and a gland toregulate-the compression of said packing, a' stationary housing in whichsaid rotatable housing is mounted, and anti-friction bearings betweensaid stationary and rotatable housings.

7'. A. well drilling apparatus including aretatable housing throughwhich a fiat sided drill stem, a round drill pipe or outside collar maybe passed, a packing within and rotatable with said housing, saidpacking, having circumferential inner and outer corrugations, and beingsuiflciently resilient to permit vertical passage of the flat-sideddrill stem, drill pipe or collars, while rotating and adapted to holdthe well pressure, a gland to regulate the compression of said packing,a stationary housing in which said rotatable housing is mounted, andanti-friction bearings between said stationary and rotatable housings,and means whereby'said bearings may be simultaneously adjusted.

8. In combination, a fiat-sided kelly,a clamp rotatable therewith, amember provided with a keyway rotatable with said Kelly clamp. a housingcarrying a key projecting into said keyway whereby said housing rotateswith said member, a packer in said housing and provided with a circularhere, but being sumciently resilient to receive a flat-sided drillmember and being adapted to prevent-themes of gas pressure,

said first named member being adjustable relative to said packer togovern the amount of pressure or said packer.

9. In a combined pressure drilling head and oil saver adapted to sealthe upper end of an oil well, a rotary housing, means to prevent thelongitudinalmovement of said housing, a circumierentially corrugated erforming inner and outer valleys and ridg Kelly I v and pofltioned'within the housing and having a'bere extending therethrough to receive adrill member, said packer being suiilciently resilient to allow thepassage therethrough of either flat sided or round drill members whilesealing the space between the rotary housing and the drill member,contacting stops on said packer and housing to limit the downwardmovement of said packer, means to force said packer downwardly to causesaid packer to seal the space between the housing and the drill member,the lower end of said packer being exposed to the pressures within theoil well so that it high pressures should be encountered the packerwould be forced upwardly from its stop'and form a tighter seal betweenthe housing and drill member than before the high pressures wereencountered.

10. In a combined pressure drilling head and oil saver adapted to sealthe upper end of an oil well, a rotary housing, means to preventlongitudinal movement of said housing, a circum-' ferentially corrugatedpacker provided with a bore adapted to receive either a round or a flatsided drill member or the outside-collars thereon and to seal the spacebetween the housing and drill member, adjustable means to compress thepacker downwardly so as to pack off the space between the housing anddrill member when normal pressures are encountered} the lower end ofsaid packer being exposed to the pressures in the well so that ifabnormal pressures are encountered, the lower portion of thepacker willbe moved upwardly to hold said abnormal pressures, the inner dimensionsof said rotary housing and adjusting means beinglarger than the drillinembereor the collars thereon so that the drill nfiember andcollars-may be passed upwardly and downwardly through the head while thehead and packer are intact.

11. A combination pressure drilling head and oil saver including arotatable housing, a packmg member having a bore therethrough and seatedin said housing, said packing member having circumferentially extendingridges and grooves and being sufllclently resilient to accommodateeither a flat sided or a round drill member and a gland operable on theupper surface 01 said packing member to compress said packing member soas to seal the space between said drill member and said housing. I

l2. A combination pressure drilling head and oil saver including arotatable housing, a packing member having a bore therethrough andseated in said housing, said packing member having circumferentiallyextending ridges and grooves and being suiliciently resilient to allowthe vertical passage therethrough of a flat sided or round kelly or adrill pipe or a drill pipe ber around drill pipe or the outside collarson said drill pipe while rotating and without loss of well pressure,said packing member having yieldable corrugations forming inner andouter valleys with intervening ridges for engaging the drill pipeandcollars without loss of well pressure and a gland rotatable with thehousing and adapted toforce the upper end of said packer downwardly soas to compress said packer.

14. A combination pressure drilling head and oil saver including arotatable housing, a packing therein having a bore extending verticallytherethrough and being of such a configuration and the packing being ofsuch resilience as to allow the vertical passage therethrough of a fiatsided drill member or a round drill member or an outside collar andmanual means to adjust the compression of said packing member, the innerdimensions of said housing and manual means being larger than the saidcollars so that the collars can be pulled through the head without lossof well pressure.

15. A combination pressure drilling head and oil saver including arotary housing provided with a seat, a packing member provided withcircumierentially extending corrugations, said packing member resting onsaid seat, a gland to adjust the compression of said packing member,said packing member being provided with a bore adapted to admit thevertical passage therethrough of a flat sided or a round kelly or adrill pipe or an outside coupling without loss of well pressure whendrilling, said packing member permitting the vertical removal of the

